“Sorry to Interrupt…”: How Work Interruptions Relate to Performance of Hotel Front Office Staff

Abstract

Workplace interruptions are an inherent feature of hotel front-office operations, yet their cognitive consequences remain insufficiently examined within hospitality research. The present study investigates how interruptions originating from four distinct sources—coworkers, managers, guests, and workplace technology—influence frontline performance through mental workload. Data collected from 367 non-managerial front-office employees in U.S. hotels were analyzed using structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that mental workload is the primary mechanism linking the interruption intensity associated with each source to performance deterioration. Across all sources, higher interruption intensity increases mental workload, which subsequently reduces service speed, accuracy, order compliance, and service quality. Conversely, interruption frequency demonstrates limited effects, yielding significant indirect impacts only for technology-related interruptions. Overall, these findings highlight interruption intensity as a more consistent predictor of cognitive strain than frequency. This study extends interruption research within hospitality and provides practical implications for optimizing front-office operations and service reliability.